n: FIG. 109.--MERCURY. _By Giovanni da Bologna._]

The decline of sculpture in Italy at this period makes its study so
unpromising that it is a pleasure to turn to France, where the works of
JEAN GOUJON show that he had the true idea of sculpture in relief. From
1555 to 1562 this sculptor was employed on the works at the Louvre, and
during the massacre of St. Bartholomew he was shot while on a scaffold
quietly working at a bas-relief on that palace.

Goujon was an architect as well as a sculptor, and also a medal
engraver, as is shown by the curious and rare medal which he made for
Catherine de' Medici. Many of his works are preserved in different parts
of France, and some bas-reliefs in the Museum of the Louvre are
excellent specimens of his style.

One also sees in France many works by GERMAIN PILON, who died in 1590.
He executed the monument to Francis I., and took a part in that of Henry
II. and Catherine de' Medici at the Church of St. Denis. He was the
sculptor of the group of the three Graces in the Louvre, which formerly
bore an urn containing the heart of Henry II., and was in the Church of
the Celestines.

But the sculptors of France at this time are not of such interest as to
hold our attention long. There was a certain amount of spirit in their
decorations of palaces and tombs, but there were no men of great genius,
and no splendid works upon which we can dwell with pleasure or profit.

In Germany, too, while there was much activity in sculpture, and public
fountains and luxurious palaces and rich ornaments employed many
artists, yet there was no originality or freshness in these works, and
they fell below those of the past. Bronzes are still made at Nuremberg,
but they only serve to make one regret that they are so inferior to
those of earlier days; and nowhere in all Germany does any one artist
stand out and present a man to be studied in his works or remembered as
one of the gifted of the earth. And yet a list of the names of German
sculptors of this time would be very long, for all over the land
churches were being decorated, monuments built, and statues and
fountains erected.

In England the best sculpture of the sixteenth century was seen in the
portrait statues on monuments, and we find no great artists there of
whom to give an account.

[Illustration: FIG. 110.--RELIEF BY BERRUGUETE. _Valladolid._]

In Spain ALONSO BERRUGUETE (1480-1561), who was the most eminent artist
of his time, had intr